Manchester City confirm signing of Patrick Roberts from Fulham

Patrick Roberts will hope to buck the recent trend of young English players failing to make the grade at City.Getty

Manchester City have today (19 July) announced the arrival of highly-rated youngster Patrick Roberts from Fulham.

A message relayed by the club's official Twitter account earlier this morning read: "Manchester City are delighted to announce the signing of @patrick7roberts from @FulhamFC. #mcfc."

Fulham have also confirmed the sale, informing fans: "The club can confirm that Patrick Roberts has joined Manchester City for an undisclosed fee. We wish him the best of luck in the future."

The diminutive 18-year-old attacking midfielder, previously linked with the likes of Liverpool, has developed a reputation as one of the most exciting prospects in English football over recent seasons, making two substitute appearances in the Premier League prior to Fulham's relegation two years ago and appearing 20 times in all competitions last term.

Roberts has also featured internationally for England at every youth level up to U19 and his move will help to refill City's homegrown quota ahead of the 2015/16 top-flight season after it was left decimated by a number of recent departures including James Milner's defection to Liverpool, Dedryck Boyata's move to Celtic and the out-of-contract Micah Richards' decision to follow Scott Sinclair to Aston Villa.

He is Manuel Pellegrini's fourth signing of the summer and the first player to join City in the aftermath of Fabian Delph's controversial £8m ($12.4m) switch from Villa Park last weekend.

The 25-year-old appeared to pull out of such a transfer only days before, pledging his commitment to a side he has captained since Tim Sherwood's arrival as successor to the sacked Paul Lambert in February.

City also completed arguably the biggest deal of the summer so far earlier in July, convincing Liverpool contract rebel Raheem Sterling to leave Anfield for a fee that is likely to rise to £49m ($76.4m) with various add-ons.